World Cup to fuel rand rally, strategist says

By William Watts

The World Cup will be good news for rand bulls, lifting the South African currency 10% over the next three months, an RBC Capital strategist told Bloomberg on Friday. Nigel Rendell, an emerging-market strategist, predicted the rand would peak at 6.75 per dollar by the end of the World Cup on July 11. The rand was changing hands at 7.4163 per dollar in recent action Friday. “South Africa is going to be on the front page of every newspaper in the world for the month of the World Cup, so there’ll be a lot of positive sentiment for the currency,” he told the news wire, adding that the economy is recovering much faster than initially expected.

The rand will be a “sell,” however, after the tournament ends, likely sliding back to around 7.60 per dollar by year end, Rendell said.

About 2010 World Cup

Here at MarketWatch’s World Cup blog, we hope to offer an in-depth look at the tournament. We’ll explore the economics, politics and athletic allure that drive the world’s most popular sporting event. We also plan to offer a slice of how the rest of the world sees the tournament.